Impact of organic additives in fabrication processes on the electrical properties of gadolinium-doped ceria as an electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cell applications

This work is focused on the impact of the fabrication processes of gadolinia ceria electrolyte on its ionic conductivity at low and moderate temperatures (200–800 °C). The results obtained in this study show that the possible chemical contaminations in the raw materials during the fabrication process have a large impact on the final electrical properties of the oxide, in particular at low temperatures (450 < T °C < 550 °C). Indeed, the bulk conductivity of gadolinia ceria is not affected by the fabrication process (pressing or tape casting) but, in opposite, the electrical properties of grain boundaries in the material are largely affected by the fabrication process of electrolyte, and by the chemical contamination linked to the use of organic additives during the shaping steps.